


Lettuce Not Speak of This

by InvisibleGoats



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Flash Fic, Wiggy the Flobberworm, secret pet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 03:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8148089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvisibleGoats/pseuds/InvisibleGoats
Summary: When Filch finds his corridor littered with brassicas, he learns a surprising lesson





	

On his usual 2am patrol of the seventh floor, Argus Filch noticed something unusual.

Lettuce. The floor around Barnabus's tapestry was littered with the stuff.

The next night, he waited around the corner, waiting to see who was making a mess of his nice, clean corridors.

11pm: Clean floor

12am: Clean floor

1am:...was that skipping? He peered around the corner, and was surprised to see a skinny, blonde figure coming towards him, arms full of lettuce, some of which fell out of her grasp at the top of each little jump. Luna Lovegood.

When she reached the tapestry, she stopped skipping and looked around furtively, not spotting Filch in the darkness. She paced past the tapestry three times, muttering "Wiggy" as she did so.

The door swung open, and she walked through. Filch quickly stole through after her, into a pool of goo.

Luna turned around in surprise at the sound, dropping what remained of her lettuces.

"Please don't tell." She yelped at the caretaker.

He looked down at the swarm of flobberworm that had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to devour the vegetables.

"Oh dear, we are in trouble. Stole these from Professor Hagrid, did we?" Even if he didn't like that criminal being allowed to teach, at least he knew any detention he gave would be particularly unpleasant.

"You don't understand!" Luna replied. "Professor Hagrid let me have them! He didn't want to have to get rid of them. Just because they're not very useful, it doesn't mean they deserve to be thrown away!" The 12-year-old was close to tears.

And for a moment, Filch saw himself in the 10-inch worm on the floor. Like him, it was a little piece of ordinary in a magical world, written off and ignored. He flashed a brief smile at Luna and headed towards the door.

At the threshold of the room, he looked at the mess in the hallway again.

"But clean up your mess!"


End file.
